The mistress or secretly known as Mrs. Cooper (thanks SarahE7191) looked at the dying boy. His breaths came in uneven short gasps. his face was flushed with the fever that was consuming him.

She sighed and sat down on her stool next to her newest patient. She pulled back his tunic enough so that she could put her hands on his stomach, but encountered another piece of cloth and after pulling her his shirt all the way realized that it was a breast band, and that he was no longer a she.

She thought quickly, who was a feminine warrior besides her daughter in law that was Tortallian, then it hit her she remembered the letter from her daughter in law about a girl page in training about nine years ago. Could this be her?

Instead of thinking further on the subject Mrs. Cooper started to heal the woman warrior. It didn't matter any longer about the price, only on whether or not one of Tortall's Knights would survive the night. if she had the ability to further help her king then so be it.

Derek was pacing outside the room, 'what is taking so long' he wondered 'she was only doing an examination, right?'

The fact that David was watching his every move made him more uneasy with the situation. He had been watching Derek from the moment the Mistress had shut the door, from the pacing to the twitching and staring at the door he was even looking at him when he woke up from his nap.

David was watching the unknown stranger closely, as close as a hungry eagle watches it's pray. He was attempting to make a conclusion about the stranger. Derek had showed up on the pub's door step with a dying person in his arms and his story, one that was near impossible to believe.

He was examining the man for lies, he was looking for some sort of flaw in him, one that he could use to expand his knowledge to hopefully get the real truth out of him.

He had yet to find anything except for how the man was worried about the boy, this could be for a variety of reasons: he is Derek's way to fortune: worried about the price of healing, or: he was not telling the truth and this man is extremely important to Derek for some other reason, and he is worried for the boy's well being.

The hours slowly ticked by, each one making Derek more and more anxious about the situation in the examination room.

After four hours had ticked by Derek couldn't stand it any longer he got up from the wooden bench that he had been sitting on and slowly moved to the door, trying to be as quiet as possible, with David still watching him.

He stood in front of the door as if trying to decide whether or not to knock after several moments in complete silence Derek brought his fist up to gently tap on the door three times.

After no response he tapped a little louder after no answer he tried the door, it has unlocked.

Derek looked back at David to see if he was going to intervene but no, he still just sat on the other bench observing him curiously.

Derek opened the door enough to fit in to and slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.

He looked inside the silent chamber there was the still bed from before with the knight laying upon it. His breathing was more steady and deep and his flesh didn't seem as flushed

On the warriors stomach was the mistress's hands, which were covered by his tunic. The mistress herself seemed to be in a trance like state eyes closed and breathing regular but he knew that she wasn't asleep for there was a slight flicker of magic that was visible to him every couple seconds.

He walked around the unconscious knight in order to look at his shoulder wound, it was almost gone with a white scar where the new skin had grown over it. When he reached out to touch his hand and the skin it felt smooth, almost like a baby skin.

He wanted to know why the Mistress had healed the knight's wound with out being paid for fist, but he had learned his lesson, not to interrupt healers while they were working. He winced at the memory.

Derek decided to wait inside the room so that he would know exactly when the Mistress was finished with her healing. As he leaned against the wall he examined the wounded Knight.

He had dirty blonde colored hair that was cut at the shoulder. Freckles were sprinkled across his face and his delicate looking nose. His lips were full and a rosy pink in color. His eyelashes were long and had sort of a feminine touch.

His arms were full with muscle, he assumed toned to perfection, the little skin that he could see on his stomach also rippled with muscle. He was stunned at the overall muscle mass of the knight, it was bigger then anyone that he had ever known, besides his Blayce's body guard but he stood six- foot four. While then Knight seemed about five foot eight or nine.

The longer he stood staring at the knight the more he realized he attracted he was to him, the way his hair fell over his flushed face, the way the fever reddened his face. stop it he told himself 'I do NOT like him. I will take him the king and receive my reward' with that thought in mind he wrenched his gaze from the beautiful knight and rested it on the floor. Soon his body join it and he fell asleep leaning against the wall dreaming about his prisoner.

Derek awoke several hours later to the sounds of someone stretching. The Mistress was stretching, after sitting hunched over in the same position for several hours. She seemed not to have notice him for her attention was still on her patient.

Derek cleared his throat quietly, she did a small surprised jump and whirled around to face him. Her eyes narrowed and gave him a glare, "I thought I told you to wait outside"

He replied "well, you did but I wanted to see what was taking so long, besides why did you decide to heal him before I paid you?"

The Mistress looked thoughtful "well, I knew that you would have to pay in order for him to leave this house, I just skipped the getting your o.k. part, because you seemed so worried that I knew that you would say yes, so I healed him"

"Well then I guess you want your payment now, right?"

"of course"

"well you see I don't really have any money but…"

"Then he can't leave this house"

"You see though, I have a sword, a very pretty one indeed, would you … accept it as the payment?"

The Mistress thought quickly the sword that he was referring to was probably the Knight's, she could refuse the payment and try to some how smuggle the Knight back to Tortall. The problems with that was that Derek could probably kill her with sword if she didn't accept and even if he didn't he could take it to court when all of this settled down and legally should would have to accept it. She sighed when did things get so complicated?

Her only real option was to send word to Tortall by messenger birds, which is what she planned to do the moment that he was out of her sight.

"Alright, bring it here and then you are free to take him"

"O good," he turned to walk through the door but then whorled around again " by the way, do you have any herbs that can make a person fall in to a sleep for several days?"

"I do, but they are very weak and a slight jostle will wake the person up." she lied

"Never mind then, I need herbs that will make a deep sleep"

Derek left the room to get the sword, all the while thinking of a way to keep the knight asleep he is a Knight if he does wake up, which he will eventually, he can beat me to a pulp before taking his nasty horse and ridding back to his home again, I guess I will have to do it the old fashioned way. (A/N : knocking them out physically, with something very hard)

Derek picked up the sword and brought it to The Mistress, as he handed it over to her waiting hands, he felt a feeling of guilt wash threw him. He was giving up his perfectly nice sword to a complete stranger in order to save his life only so that he can be tortured to death.

He shook his head to get rid of all of the unwelcome thoughts before gently taking the unconscious Knight in his hands and walking out of the house back towards the inn where the stupid stubborn horse was tied.

As soon as he was out of sight Mrs. Cooper wrote a quick message on what had just past and tied it to her most trusted messenger pigeon. Before wrapping the sword and preparing it to be sent back to the castle where hopefully, if the knight did survive, he would be reunited with it once again.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS/(GIRLS) THINK, ANY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS COMPLETELY WELCOME, I WANT TO INPROVE THIS STORY.

I know it has been absolutely forever sense I last updated, My life has been so hectic lately I would make a list but it would go on for a long time plus I can guarantee no one would want to hear it. Please review it encourages my to write even when I have other things to do so I make this a priority. Other wise it just sits on the bottom and never gets done.

Thank you:

Nelarun

SarahE7191

Gretta99

For reviewing I really appreciate it Please continue and for the other 125 of you pleeeease review or say something please so that I can acknowledge you for reading it thanks

-Crazy Lady Knight